Resolution

Luckily my unfortunate events have resolved themselves - one courtesy of the lovely Tracey and the other from a quick dash to Templecombe this afternoon.  Relative calm allowed me to assist mother in tackling the church window ready for Harvest and try to get a lovely action shot of cria dashing around.  Sadly they either run to fast -

or suddenly stop!

Blogless

No blog - sorry!  Having a series of unfortunate events!

Womble prepares himself

I can honestly say that things are going a little crazy here at the moment.  I have actually made several knitwear sales without even trying, I have only a carrier bag full of fleece left,  Most of next year's yarn is earmarked before it is even processed, we are booked up with other peoples toenails, visits etc almost completely every weekend until the middle of November.  My feet are not touching the ground and I was very glad of a little help with a bit of (not hugely successful) halter training and sheep feeding today.  The sheep feeding of the Teaser ram and his band of goons was easy as they are all greedy.  They do not need feeding but I need them really well bucket trained as Womble, the teaser, has to make the long walk tomorrow,  on his own, across a 10 acre field to be introduced to the ewes!

Zara had her next Nuflor and a bit more squeezing this afternoon which was disgusting and luckily happened after I met the GHN and was able to enlighten her which I am sure the Knight will be most pleased about!

Oohh!!!!

I can barely contain myself as I have happiness bursting out of my pores!  Admittedly it may be a little premature and I must not say why I am unable to sit still for more than a minute at a time - I will just say apricot tree (never even knew you could grow them in this country) alpacas out the back door and chatting over the fence with the Grave Digger.  Enough of that for now!

Weather has turned really nice today after a gloomy start, all animals are well apart from poor Zara who has an abscess in an odd place - just under her chin.  It has now burst, quite dramatically and I have spent several days squeezing it which she actually likes.  She is on Nuflor at quite a heavy dose and is perfectly alright in herself apart from being thin.

Carl has been busy helping someone move house (incidentally, related to a past vicar at Ibberton).

I have been checking the feed this afternoon as Carl says winter may be a hard one.  We were talking about this over tea and Sam now feels sick - his normal reaction when he gets really excited at the hint of snow!

And finally, some very wet girls from yesterday!

Action in the shelter

Getting a bit cold here but this morning there was still no one brave enough to go very far into the field shelter with the mats in it.  However, this afternoon I heard someone in there and I could see a bottom sticking out.  Cassie's cria, Wonky, wanted to go in but couldn't pluck up the courage.

Closer inspection revealed the bottom to belong to Bea and the one in the field shelter completely?  Zara's cria, Tyke.

And now the weather is starting to turn I think Sam needs to do something about a new jacket - he seems to have mended the sip with bailer twine bows!

 

Alarms, trips and talks

No pictures, sorry.  Carl went off beating today and had the camera in the truck with him.  I am still suffering from a horrid cold and so have been crawling round, muttering.  We are in the middle of trying to make an important decision and having a cold at this time is not helping!

Yesterday was a  Mother crisis day.  First she had an alarm going off which she thought was her boiler on the verge of exploding - turned out it was her carbon monoxide detector out of batteries.  Then she had no power in her sockets - broken lamp tripping the switches.  Carl and I managed to pick up lots of poo using Sam's land rover to tow the poo picker.  My Mule is still suffering a snapped drive belt but we are getting a new one tomorrow so I shall have a joyful week of catching up on the poo.

Wednesday night we were out doing our talk on alpacas.  That was fun  but I over ran my time as usual - they said it was okay but I fear one poor lady may have drifted off to sleep.  Apparently Carl was doing those wrap it up now signals at me but I just thought he was feeling cold so ignored him!

Tomorrow is yet another busy day as we have to collect and fit the drive belt, Carl is helping fix someone elses poo picker, I have to talk to the money man and finish a pair of gloves (knitting depleted from the talk).

Beam me up, Scotty

Little Rascal, Trouble's cria, has to get in every photo!

We have been rather busy!  I was expecting a lull now all births are well and truly over but that hasn't really happened.  Yesterday we were busy with our 'adopted herd'  who behaved beautifully and did not escape into the tennis courts or rampage through the formal gardens as I had envisaged.  We then had all ours to check and worm which was accomplished without any dramas.  Today we have been delivering fleece and knitting and I actually went clothes shopping.  Only to Matalan but I have to say I actually enjoyed it and came away with a pair of trousers and a T shirt.  I almost came away with a beautiful pair of red shoes with 4 inch heels which I am still lusting over - but £100 was just too much for me!  I bought a bottle of Cydectin in Mole Valley instead.  Now I must get ready for a talk on alpacas we are doing tomorrow night, hopefully my cold will ease by then.  I can't sit down with the boys as they are annoying me - firstly, they sat in the kitchen talking and looking at photos of the dashboard on Sam's tractor at work whilst letting the rice boil dry. 

 Secondly, Carl has discovered the only way to get the TV buzzer to work is to point it at Sam's head, any other way and the channels will not change.  They find this very funny!

 

Spick and Span shelters

A very nice weather day today and I ended up in shorts which is not bad for October - mind you, some of that may be due to a lingering cold.

We are trying a new way of keeping the field shelters clean.  Mats in the bottom so I can clean them out more easily as my girls all seem to have decided to use the field shelters as toilets.  So far the mats are working brilliantly - no poo whatsoever in any field shelter.  Sadly, the reason for this is that no alpaca will set foot on a mat!  I may have to rethink that one!

All sheep moved and sorted today, livestock trailer had a bit of a mechanical overhaul and Sam and I got down to a bit more halter training. This went well except Sam does not seem to understand the concept of taking a photo without his mother looking enormous in it.

Panic

First rule of life - if it can go wrong, it will!  Carl says I am a pessimist.

Last night a friend brought her fleece over ready for Shaun Daniels who was coming over to collect first thing.  There was no more room in the house so we stored it ready in the garage.  I got up early to go and do the animals and then arrived back at 8am to wait for Shaun's arrival and have a leisurely coffee.. . . and I suddenly remembered that I had no key to the garage as it was with the estate agents.  Never mind, the garage has a big electronic door . . . but Sam had parked his (waiting to be sold) Landrover across the front of it.  A desperate search and I found his keys and gingerly moved it forward . . . only to find that Sam had disconnected the buzzer thing so no one accidentally garrotted his Landrover.  Mad phone call to Carl who was, very luckily, fixing a forklift in Blandford.  This meant a manic dash through the fog to collect a key - all the time panicking that Shaun would arrive.  Luckily, he was caught up in traffic and I made it!  Came all the way from Yorkshire this morning.

Very pleased with the amount for the fleece! . . but now I have to clear up stray fleece from the hall, the stairs . . Much easier doing it in a barn.

And the life changing visit?  It was good!  Maybe . . .  (bit of a cliff hanger there especially for the parfit gentil knight!).

Twitchy

Cria drama now over - I am a little twitchy at the moment and jumping at the first sign of anything which is not good news for the next vets bill.
Today the weather is murky and horrid but luckily I have had to come home to wait for some fleece to arrive.   Can't even see half the alpacas today.

 I shall spend an hour trying to finish a special pair of gloves for a very special lady - but that is if I can settle as we are off to visit something tonight which is potentially life changing.  I was told off last week for putting cliff hangers in the blog and then forgetting to say how things worked out so I have stuck that bit in the middle and if I don't say how it works out I will be because it didn't!

Last week I responded to the BAS email about a parasite survey and the offer of 5 free faecal tests - well worth it
http://alpacaparasites.com/

Sick cria

Just a quick blog as I have a sick cria and must get back to him.  Vet has been and taken a blood sample so we are waiting for news.

I have Shaun Daniels coming to collect fleece on Thursday early so if anyone has any they want him to buy - let me know!

Proper update later, hopefully.